


Volleyball Idiots

by HomeForImaginaryFriends



Series: 13 Days of HQ Halloween [9]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Angst, M/M, Someone dies, but still in high school, just be warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-27 02:06:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12571316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomeForImaginaryFriends/pseuds/HomeForImaginaryFriends
Summary: Tsukishima Kei is not sentimental.  He only keeps the pin his boyfriend gave him because it's important to him, not to Kei. Really.





	Volleyball Idiots

Kei lazily looked around the gym.  It was much more crowded than when he was a first year, which was rather bothersome no matter what anyone else said.  He stretched out the fingers on his left hand, he had to tape his middle and ring finger together after they had gotten jammed the previous day during the practice match against Datekou.  They were as troublesome as always but Karasuno had managed to squeak by in a win.  Not that it mattered or counted for much, it was just a practice match.  A way to test out each club's new batch of first years more than anything.

 

Kei had tried to tell that to their loud and overenthusiastic captain but he wouldn’t stop speeding around the court with his usual speed and athleticism.  Kei hadn’t really truly believed three years would change Hinata Shouyou all that much, but part of him had hoped he would calm down a little.  If anything being named captain had made him act even more outlandishly than before.

 

Shouyou had been sick and instead of sitting out for one game, one practice match that didn’t even matter in the long run of things, he had run himself into the ground.  There had been many moments since Kei started on Karasuno that made his heart pick up speed, his blood pump harder, made his usual clear and logical head fog over.  But nothing compared to looking to his right, expecting to see a ball of energy in the compact size of their captain leaping for a block but instead saw empty space.  Koganegawa had missed the ball completely as he stared at a still form on the other side of the net.

 

Shouyou had passed out.  It was only a moment but it had scared all of them enough that the rest of the practice match had been a distracted disaster.  Ukai forced him to sit out, which he griped about the entire time behind his white surgical mask.  But he had looked pale and had sat slumped next to Yachi as she pressed a cold compact to the back of his neck.

 

On the bus ride back Shouyou had slumped against Kageyama and fallen asleep almost immediately.  It showed how worried the setter was for his friend that he didn’t even complain once about Shouyou spreading his sickness.

 

Kei felt a sense of relief when morning practice started and Shouyou had not shown up.  He had not missed a single day of practice in three years but winter was slowly rolling in and there had been a lot of students missing school due to illness.  Kei was glad Shouyou had decided not to ride his bike thirty minutes over mountains to school when he was sick.

 

Not that he would ever admit any of that outloud.  Practice had gone by smoothly.  Shouyou was an integral member of their team but Tadashi was a good Vice-Captain and they were all still trying to figure out what the new first years were capable of.

 

“Have you heard from him?”  Tadashi asked as they changed in the clubroom.  Their club had grown but their changing room stayed the same size.  It meant taking turns inside and today was the third years time to change last.  It meant no one was around, besides Kageyama, to question why Tadashi would ask Kei if he had talked to Shouyou and not his best friend.

 

“No.”  Kei glanced over at Kageyama who was staring down in irritation at his own phone.  “Oi King, did you forget to have your servant charge your phone again?”  Kageyama snorted as he shoved his phone into his bag, as if that would change the fact that he always forgot to charge the thing.  Shouyou usually carried around a charger for Kageyama.  Just because they had been on the same team for three years didn’t mean they took it any easier on each other.  They tended to be civil in front of the underclassmen and Kei reserved most of his venom for opposing teams but Kageyama was still a volleyball idiot.

 

“If he hasn’t texted either of you then he probably hasn’t texted me.”  Kageyama shrugged on his bag.  Kei pulled on his sweater.  He felt the little pin he put there after every wash.  It was stuck to the inside, so no one ever saw it but Kei could always feel it.

 

It was an ugly little Vabo, colored like a pumpkin for upcoming Halloween.  It had been childish and stupid, two things Kei prided himself on not being.  He couldn’t say the same thing for his boyfriend of course.

 

Boyfriend.  It was a concept  Kei was still getting use to.  Not the idea that he was gay, he had known that for quite a while.  But he had never thought he would get involved with anyone, especially not in high school and most especially not with Hinata Shouyou, the biggest volleyball idiots in a country full of volleyball idiots.

 

It was almost impossible not to like Shouyou.  Kei admitted most of the problems he had with the shorter teen were his own issues that he had worked on throughout the years.  Even all their opponents liked Shouyou, and he consistently made them work and sweat for every single point they scored.  Other schools were willing to do training camps and practice matches against them now that they had gone to Nationals not once, but twice in a two year span but everyone knew it was the good standing Shouyou had with the other captains that had everyone calling them up.

 

Kei thought of grabbing soup and bringing it to Shouyou after practice.  He would have to bring him his homework anyways so he might as well bring something that Shouyou would actually like.  Kei could almost see the light die in Shouyou’s too big eyes as the shorter realized Kei was only there to drop off his homework.  It almost made Kei laugh during lunch.

 

Perhaps they could even sit on the couch and Kei could pretend to be annoyed when Shouyou fell asleep against him.  He had grown a little since they were first years, but then so had Kei so that hadn’t mattered much.  But Shouyou now had the skill to back up his aspirations.  The basics were no longer a problem for him and all that running around and jumping had made Shouyou grow in other ways than height.

 

“Tsukishima?”  Kei looked away from gazing out the window, wondering if the teacher was going to call him out for being distracted but she only held up a note that a office student had brought in.  “You are needed in the office.”  Kei wasn’t too surprised as he stood up and made his way out of class.  Another problem with a bigger club meant they attracted all sorts of hot headed idiots.  Kei was mostly called in to see that they were properly disciplined.  Tadashi was usually too kind, Shouyou could be easily distracted, and Kageyama ended up yelling but Kei terrified new club members.

 

It was a surprise to see Tadashi and Kageyama waiting in the office.  Even more surprising was Ukai standing next to Takeda.

 

“Have a seat Tsukishima.”  Takeda said, his hand shaking slightly as he pointed towards the empty chair next to Tadashi.

 

“What’s going on?”  Kei asked, standing up and near the door.  He wasn’t sure why he was clearly disobeying a teacher, he had never shown any disrespect to Takeda before but for some reason his heart was beating too fast.  There was a rushing in his ears.

 

“I’m so sorry,” Takeda started which didn’t make sense.

 

Kei listened but he did not comprehend.

 

He heard but he did not understand.

 

The words were strung up in the right order.  They sounded familiar but why wasn’t it making any sense?

 

Shouyou had decided to stay home because he was ill.  He didn’t sneak out of the house in the morning when his mother wasn’t looking.  He didn’t take his bike and make it half way to school before passing out and crashing down the road.  He couldn’t have been found dead.  He couldn’t have because Kei was going to call his brother and ask for a ride to the store so he could pick up Shouyou’s favorite soup and drop it off, with his homework, to his house.  Kei was going to pretend to be annoyed when Shouyou slacked off.  Kei was finally going to be the one to initiate holding hands, something that Shouyou did with ease but made Kei pause each time he tried.

 

They were all suppose to meet up at Tadashi’s house on Sunday to go over their picks for the starting lineup before discussing it with Ukai.  They had a training camp next month with several of the teams in Miyagi and the following month was another camp in Tokyo.

 

The stupid, ugly, useless Vabo pin pushed against his chest.  Shouyou had given it to Kei for his birthday, along with a strawberry shortcake he had made himself.  It had been too dry and a little stale but Kei hadn’t said any of that.  He had been nice and instead of throwing the stupid pin in the garbage bin he had pinned it to the inside of his sweater.  Like some sentimental idiot.

 

Now he was standing out in the cold, staring down a fresh grave.  He couldn’t really remember the days that followed finding out Hinata Shouyou was dead.  He couldn’t really accept it.  Not Shouyou.  Not the guy who gave his everything for some stupid high school club that no one really cared about.

 

Kei didn’t care.  He didn’t.

 

_ He didn’t. _

**Author's Note:**

> This is the second story where I kill off Hinata and I don't know why I keep doing this? I love our sunshine child!


End file.
